Welcome to the Piano World Piano ForumsOver 2.5 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Tough choice. I'm afraid you would have to try them both ( standard answer, but true). If they don't have an ES together with the pedal unit and stand, I can PM a picture of the ES set in a real room. Just to get an impression.

Thanks. I tested the ES7 (well I'm a beginner, so I asked the seller to play something, then just tested the keyboard) at a store selling Kawai but that's not really close to where I live.

I also tested the FP7F closer to where I live but that was days apart from the Kawai test. Hardly an easy A-B comparison.

I would love to give my money to a local business, but the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced the full ES7 set at Thomann (keyboard, stand, three pedals and bench) is a pretty good deal.

Sure, I guess I could just order it sight unseen but it sure would be nice if I could at least see one first. It looks like the closest dealer that has one to see is about 500 miles away from me and not worth it to me. I'll have to think about it more regarding just ordering it. I may just end up doing it and hoping for the best. Thanks for your thoughts.

The piano sound is a bigger difference. The Roland is technically more advanced

Care to elaborate on qualitative differences in sound? In what aspects of playing do these technicalities outshine its competitors, and what would these be (sympathetic resonance, nuances of touch, sound decay)?

You could perhaps try a PX-350 , but at least for the looks the FP7 and ES7 are better.

I would be very interested to hear about the differences between PX-350 and ES7, especially which action is more realistic.As I can buy them but can't try them (so far?) either.As to the sound - at least there are youtube videos And Kawai sounds pretty good in those videos (unless the sound is recorded from the internal speakers).PX-350 may not be a huge improvement over PX-330.I don't like the midrange of PX-330 - approximately two octaves from the middle C up. And of course, the lack of sustain. This at least is improved in PX-350.

But mostly I am interested in comparison between ES7 and PX-350.Both have new actions so it would be good to hear from somebody who tried both.

When I first played Kawai's MP10, I didn't think it was especially realistic. Then, as chance would have it, a client had rented a Kawai baby grand for me to play at a gig... I sat down and played it and thought, hey, this kind of reminds me of the Kawai DP! ;-) So the answer to which feels more realistic may also depend on what real pianos you're comparing it to. I found the MP10 a bit heavy/slow feeling, but as it happens, that's what I ending up thinking about the "real" Kawai as well... they were both heavier feeling than the acoustics I've typically played, and so I ended up thinking that the Kawai was closer to "a real piano" than I had given it credit for.

So it is very possible that the ES7 and PX350 could be about equally "realistic" yet still noticeably different from each other, and your sense of its realism could depend on what real piano you're comparing it to. I will add that, IMO, the PX350 seemed more in the range of feeling like a real piano than the PX330 did. In fact, the 350 kind of reminded me of a lighter feeling, harder bottoming MP10 (though not as hard bottoming as, say, an FP-7F). And to throw one more kink into this, apart from how realistic the action physically feels, there is also a kind of subjective sense of how the action connects with the sound, which can vary as well.

I'm considering to buy the Kawai ES7. At first I was very attracted to the Nord Piano 2, mostly for the EPs. I also liked all the knobs easily accessible in real time. But I disliked the action. Then I really loved the roland 700NX action and was ready to buy it. But now the ES7 is out, with an action that seems just as good, and a price which is way cheaper...

Here's my question. What do you think of the ES7 EP sounds ? Will I be able to get dirty, almost distorded rhodes sounds ?What about the effects, are they easy to tweak ?

At some point I was also considering the Kurzweil PC3K, because it's good in every category : AP, EP, B3 sounds.

BTW, that's my other question : what do you think of the ES7 organ sounds ?

EP's and Organs are good, but there's only a few of them. On a Kurzweil you have tons of EP sounds and a delicate drawbar simulation with yet another big set of presets. But it's comparing apple and pears; pc3k is a workstation, he ES7 a portable DP. For better keybed and acoustic piano sound, the ES 7 is so much better than the PC3, but in terms of extra sounds and feature set, the pc3k is playing in a whole other league. I think you should make up your mind first about what you're actually looking for.

If you need organ simulation and a good stage piano you might consider the Kawai MP6. It lacks the third sensor of the RH II keybed, but other than that it is a very good all round alternative (good ap and EP piano and good organs + nice controls). Kurzweil has no third sensor either FYI

as an ES7 owner, I posted my initial thoughts on the PX-150 keybed and piano sound in the thread Casio PX-150 keyed and grand piano. The piano sound and keybed are the same on the px-350. Can't comment on the additional features of the 350 - they didn't have it on display.

IMHO , the current Kawai and Roland and more expensive Yamaha boards are still better than Casio, but the Casio is pretty good in itself and in such a different price and weight range that it all depends on where your preferences are. If you need a good piano keybed of only 11kg , there's not much else that's better. If you can handle more weight and have more money in your pocket, there's much more competition and in nicer, more classy packages with better amplification. You get what you pay for, but I think Casio is offering a lot for the money in terms of keybed and AP sounds, combined with low weight. Some people reported flaws in their particular units. It happens and there's also a bias to report problems in a thread (I'm guilty of that as well), but the unit I tested had zero issues. Let these reports not hold you back to buy any brand piano, as long as the after sales conditions are good , just in case there's a problem (quick fix , exchange or refund).

pc3k is a workstation, he ES7 a portable DP. For better keybed and acoustic piano sound, the ES 7 is so much better than the PC3, but in terms of extra sounds and feature set, the pc3k is playing in a whole other league. I think you should make up your mind first about what you're actually looking for.

I guess my hesitation comes from the fact that I'm taking piano lessons and I want to develop a good technique by practicing on a good "piano" - OTOH I'm hoping to gig soon using rather rhodes sounds (and occasionnally the organ).

The MP6 might be the good compromise. At least until some manufacturer comes up with the ideal instrument combining 1/good keybed 2/ good APs 3/ good EPs 4/ controls !

And there is always (!) something new around the corner, be it from Kawai or any other brand. The moment you bought something is the moment you know something new is on its way, so at some point you just have to decide if you need a certain product right now and if one of the products readily available will meet your requirements (sort of).

Will there be new products at NAMM and/or the next show and the next event ; yes sure. Do you want to wait and can you wait ; that's only for you to decide.

This is my first post here. I am a beginning pianist, really without any experience. The Kawai ES7 caught my attention as a decent digital piano for beginners.

I have a question that I cannot find the answer for (not even in the manual): since my girl friend would also like to learn to play the piano, we really like the 4 hands option that splits the keyboard in two 44 key pianos. However, it is unclear to me whether we can also just listen to ourselves playing without hearing the "other 44 keys". In one of the video reviews on Youtube they said that the piano can also be used to teach two students at the same time, but this feature wasn't explained in much detail. I guess it wouldn't really help us if we could hear each other playing the piano while trying to do so our selves too.

Edit: That question was answered on Youtube: no, sound is not split. Too bad, would have been an interesting feature for families where more than one person would like to learn to play the piano.

Edit2: Didn't see your response yet Kawai James, thanks for your response. Do you think a feature like this could be added through a firmware update?

Offtopic: JFP, is that your ES7 that is currently for sale on Marktplaats.nl?

The 'Four Hands Mode' feature splits the keyboard into two 44-key sections with the same playing range, as you correctly note.

However, the sound is not 'split', meaning that person 'A' can still hear what person 'B' is playing - even when using separate pairs of headphones. This is largely intentional, however I agree that it would be a useful feature for the two 44-key sections to output sound to either headphone jack independently.

I'll be ordering a brand new ES7 (black) tomorrow. The past couple of weeks my girlfriend and I have visited two Kawai-dealers. One was very pushy about buying the ES7 right now, but had no alternatives in the show room and I don't like pushy salesmen, so we'll order it elsewhere. In the other shop we also saw the CP300 of Yamaha (also wanted to see/feel the CP33, but it was sold out). The CP300 is and looks really bulky compared to the Kawai. Could be a great stage piano though, but the looks are nowhere near as sleek as those of the ES7, which is important to us as well, because it will be placed in the living room.

In terms of keyboard action, both (ES7 and CP300) feel like an acoustic piano to us, but we are in no way experts since we have absolutely no experience playing the piano. It's just that it feels much like I remember the Yamaha grand piano of my father-in-law. Other instruments included are not really interesting to us. Of course we'll play the odd song with an EP, but primarily we plan to play with the AP's

We got an offer to buy it as a set with the stand and the 3 pedals, with a free piano bench (worth € 79) for € 1650, which I think is a great deal. It matches most of the online offerings, so I guess in about a week we will be the proud owners of an ES7! we really cannot wait to play the first bits of Alfred's Self-Teaching Adult Piano Course Volume 1 on it

i have mp5 kawai too for 3 years already))-i used it very often , and there is no such problem, keys are solid and perfect. Anyways i have nails, and they are not so long as you think!)) I sent info to musicstore.de so i'll wait for answer, and let you know about this issue. As you see on the picture all keys have special thin cover, and this cover became to flake off...for example mp5 i can repair, but this type definitely no because of cover.

This is my first ever message on this great forum I've been reading for months.I'm highly interested in the Kawai ES7, and intend to purchase it soon, but I'm wondering something regarding its MIDI abilities (and I'm a total beginner with MIDI and MIDI pianos). I intend to use that piano not only with its internal sounds, but also with a computer through MIDI. I particularily enjoy pipe organs sounds, but as you probably know, real organs have a pedal keyboard for their lowest notes! So, I'm wondering whether it is possible to split the ES7 keyboard into 2 separate MIDI sections : the first section would be the first 15, or 20,... etc. lowest notes of the ES7 keyboard, and these notes would be assigned to the original pedal keyboard notes of the organ. The 2nd section would be assigned to the standard organ keyboard.In the owner's manual, page 110, I found this :

Using Split mode with Multi-timbral mode enabledNotes played in the lower section of the keyboard will betransmitted on the channel that is 1 channel higher than thespecified channel. For example, if the MIDI channel is set to3, notes played in the lower section of the keyboard will betransmitted on channel 4.